'Dhanush' missile successfully test fired

India [ Images ] on Sunday successfully test fired its nuclear-capable ballistic missile 'Dhanush', with a range of 350 kilometers, from a naval ship off the Orissa coast.
The single-stage ship-based missile was flight-tested at around 11.30 am and the trial was successful, defence sources said.

'Dhanush' has a payload capacity of 500 kilograms and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads. It can hit both sea and shore-based targets.

The missile, which has liquid propellant, is the naval version of India's indigenously developed surface-to-surface 'Prithvi' missile system, the sources said.

"Dhanush, being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, was put to trial jointly by a team of scientists and officers from the navy," they said.

"Today's test launch has been tracked from its take-off to impact point through an integrated network of sophisticated radars and electro-optic instruments for post-mission data analyses," the sources said.

The missile had failed in its first test at the development stage on April 11, 2000 due to certain technical problems relating to the take-off stage but subsequent trials were successful.

The last trial of 'Dhanush' was successfully conducted from a naval ship off Orissa coast on March 30, 2007, the sources added.